INFORMING EDUCATORS ON BEST PRACTICES FOR FORMER REFUGEE ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: A FOUR SESSION PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATORS By Sarah M. Kiiskila A capstone project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in English as a Second Language Hamline University St. Paul, Minnesota Summer 2018 Primary Advisor: Laura Halldin & Melissa Erickson Content Reviewer: Stephany Jallo
58
Embed
INFORMING EDUCATORS ON BEST PRACTICES ... - Hamline …
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
INFORMING EDUCATORS ON BEST PRACTICES FOR FORMER REFUGEE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS: A FOUR SESSION PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATORS
By
Sarah M. Kiiskila
A capstone project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Appendix A Notes for Professional Development Session One, Students with Interrupted Education
Time Location Objective Topic Speakers Outline
of Schedule
Supplies Needed
Tuesday 2:15-3:30
Cafeteria A
-Educators will be able to define what a refugee is. -Educators will better understand what some of our students and staff have experienced in their time as a refugee.
Students with Interrupted Education: The Experience of Former Refugees & Latino Students
Panel to talk about experiences, strengths, weaknesses: -ESL Teacher -Family Liaison -Parents of students -Community members -Refugee Resettlement Agency Worker -Latino immigrant non-profit worker -Student -MPS Welcome Center employee
-Warm-up: meet with someone new and tell a highlight -Rationale for this PD and future PDs -Give group roles -“What does it mean to be a refugee?” TED-Ed Video -Interview with Panel -Time for questions -Online survey
-Microphones -Laptop with Prezi -Questions for Panel -Screen -Projector with extension cord -Home Poem by Warsan Shire -FlipGrid
36
Time Slides Questions Script
Title Slide: Students with Interrupted Education
Warm-up the room: Who teaches 3rd grade? How about 5th grade? Where are the specialist teachers?
37
5 minutes
Housekeeping: Slide with brief overview of the Professional Development sessions that are to come and why we were are doing them. Introduce reaction seat chairs and chosen volunteers come up to start that. Questions on sticky notes:
Today we will be discussing students who are immigrating to our area who may have had limited formal education. The students we have in mind today are our East African and Napali families who came to the U.S. as refugees. We are also talking about our Latino students who may have come to seek refugee or asylum in this country This panel represents the many families and students in our community. No single story can encompass everyone’s journey, but it is a way to open up dialogue. Reaction Team: These seats in the front are for any staff members who want to come up and be a part of the conversation. You may have a question for the panel or clarification, a comment, or a possible solution to share with the whole
38
staff. Those who wish to be a part of the panel simple must come find a seat on one of these designated reaction team chairs. Please raise your hand to indicate you want to join the discussion. If the reaction team chairs are full, tap on the shoulder of the one who has been sitting there the longest and they will return to their seat. This is a way for you to more easily participate in conversation and to help keep us on track. Questions: Please write questions during the presentation that you may want to ask members of the panel or your group. At the end we will have time for more questions if time allows.
Home by Warsan Shire “No one leave home unless home is the mouth of a shark…”
Staff member reads poem “Home”
39
Panel Introduction: Names, pictures, and affiliations/jobs if possible
Please introduce yourself- your name and what you spend much of your time doing (job, family, school)
Definition of Push and Pull (volunteer reads out): Push or Pull factors (on slide) “Push factors are those that cause a person to leave because life has become difficult or even dangerous, such as war, natural disasters, or political upheaval. A pull factor is one that attracts immigrants such as economic or educational opportunity, religious or political freedom, or family ties.” –Brenda Custodio and Judith B. O’Loughlin, Students with Interrupted Formal Education, 2017
Question 1 What are the Push and Pull factors for our students to desire to immigrate?
40
Unaccompanied minors Homeland Security defines unaccompanied minors as unaccompanied alien children and define them as “a chil who (1) has no lawful immigration status in the United States; (2) has not yet attained 18 years of age, and (3) with respect to whom there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care and physical custody.” –Brenda Custodio and Judith B. O’Loughlin, Students with Interrupted Formal Education, 2017
“The number of unaccompanied children has increased dramatically in the last 10 years from less than 2,000 in 2004 to almost 60,000 in 2014
Ask MPS Welcome Center person: Is this something MPS has noticed in our district also? Have we had an increase in unaccompanied children?
41
According to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education “no child may be denied admission to school based on immigration status”. This is based on the Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision of 1982. --Brenda Custodio and Judith B. O’Loughlin, Students with Interrupted Formal Education, 2017
In 1984 Texas was going to only receive funds for students who were legally in the country. Plyler v. Doe overturned that and said that the school district “must not consider a child’s immigration status as a factor for enrollment. It is our job to teach these students. I consider it a privilege to work with these students and families. I hope you do too!
Question How can we support our students at school who may not have all the correct legal documentation? How do we ease their fear of their family’s deportation?
Question What programs does our district currently have to or students who may be in need of dental, vision, and mental health
42
supports?
End of Chapter 2 questions
Question How can educators be approachable and available to parents and caretakers?
2 minutes
Two minute stretch break:
Get up and ask someone for the most interesting thing they’ve heard so far
Focus on Refugees: Quote “Education is a basic human right for all children, and it is especially important that refugee children receive schooling because it creates a sense of security and hope, which is often lacking in refugee settings… Education teaches self-reliance, helps create the human social capital needed for development, and plays a fundamental role in providing both physical and psychological protection for the child.” -Unite for Sight website, n.d.Focus on refugee students
43
Question Do children and teenagers have to go to school? Who often helps families resettle and what type of support do they receive with refugee status?
Question What types of services to children receive upon arrival? Who often helps families resettle and what type of support do they receive?
Question What can we do as educators to help a traumatized child?
At the next session in this professional development series we will be discussing trauma, its effects, and what we can do. I do want to touch on this today though since we have this panel of experts with us today. Often children have experience first hand or second hand some level of trauma whether it was in a time of transition, at a new refugee camp, or in the U.S.
44
Small group: 3 minutes
How do the educational opportunities for refugees in camps impact their readiness for school? What can we do as a school to support these students?
We are going to break into small groups right now. On the screen is a question to discuss as a group. You will have 3 minutes
5 minutes
Reflection Time Type in: https://flipgrid.com/andersen1819 Password is: Andersen Choose: Students with Limited Education
Now is a time for you to reflect on what you have read, heard, and discussed this afternoon. You will find the video reflection on flipgrid.com *Teacher demonstrates on laptop connected to screen how to access reflection video.* Please respond before you leave. Have a great rest of your day. I am thankful to be learning and serving with you.
Appendix B: Notes for Professional Development Session Two, Trauma and Children
Tuesday 2:15-3:30
Cafeteria A
-Educators will be able to list some examples of trauma students may have experienced -Educators will be able to pick out one strategy they can use with their grade level team.
Trauma Informed Education: Adverse Childhood Experiences, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Positive School Behavior and Intervention, Zones
-School Social Workers -School Psychologist -Classroom teacher or ESL teacher
-Warm-up: Who’ in the room? -Revisit rationale -Give group roles -Google slides with trauma facts -Interview with Panel -Time for questions -Online survey
-Microphones -Laptop with Google Slides -Screen -Projector with extension cord
Optimistic Opening: Have teachers walk around and find someone they do not know. I will then have them share one student highlight from the last week.
Time Slides Questions Script
46
Title Slide: Trauma Informed Education
This afternoon we will continue our discussion on understanding and knowing how to serve our students better. Today’s focus will be on the topic of trauma. Who in here has had trainings on trauma? Who in here would like to better understand what causes trauma and what we can do as educators? Wonderful, we are going to walk further into this topic of trauma today and come away with ways to know if our students have been affected by high levels of trauma and some tools to help them and help each other. Today our set-up will be similar to our last PD when we learned about students with interrupted education. We have a panel and we also have chairs set up for our reaction team. Remember if you would like to come up and ask a question or comment, tap the shoulder of the one who has been sitting here the longest and you can have their reaction team chair. Raise your hand to enter the discussion with the panel. We will give you the microphone to speak.
47
Questions Picture of sticky notes
Please use the sticky notes
on your table to write
down any questions you
have during the panel
discussion. We will have
time for more questions at
the end of our time.
**I also want to say that over the next hour we will be talking about trauma and that may be a trigger for some of you. If you feel the need to leave at anytime, please do so and connect with myself, someone on the panel, or another trusted staff member later.
48
Group Roles: Clarification Team: points requiring clarification Rebuttal Team: points you did not agree with Elaboration Team: points that need more thorough explanation Application Team: points where problems may occur in application of learning
Today we are going to add
on another layer of our
session. We are going to
have group roles. How
many of you assign roles
or jobs in your classroom?
Good! Why do you assign
roles to your students?
Today we are going to do
that with all of you. This
section will be the
clarification team. You
will come up with points
that may require more
clarification. This middle
left section will be the
rebuttal team. Your task
will be to come up with
points they did not agree
with. This section in the
middle right is the
elaboration team. You ask
49
for any points that need
more elaboration or a more
thorough explanation. The
far right and final team is
the application team. You
will ask the speakers to
talk about any problems
that may occur in the
actual application of the
new learning.
Panel Introductions: Names, pictures, and titles/affiliations
Please introduce yourself
and say a little bit about
your judge and field of
study.
Statistic: 68% of all children have experienced some form of trauma (Cavanuagh, 2016). Most students identified with EBD have experienced trauma through abuse or neglect (Cavanuagh, 2016).
50
Traumatic experiences which students may have experienced are: war, terrorism, natural and man-made disasters, exposure to violence, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, and suicide (Cavanaugh, 2016).
What are some
examples of
Traumatic experience
What are signs that an
Individual has
experience
High levels of trauma
Post-traumatic stress disorder: PTSD
What is PTSD and ho
can we notice it in
students?
At our last session, we
talked about students who
may be fleeing their homes
due to war or unsafe
environments. PTSD may
be affecting some of our
students.
Is it true that PTSD ca
sometimes look like
ADHD?
We know that PTSD can
be misdiagnosed as
ADHD. Students should
be meeting with mental
51
health professionals to be
properly assessed and
supported.
Who can we direct
students to who are
showing these
Signs?
Adverse Childhood Experiences: ACEs ACEs can be broken up into three categories: abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Students with higher ACE scores often struggle in school with “aggression, attendance problems, depression, inattention, anxiety/withdrawal, and delayed cognitive development” (Cavanuagh, 2016, p. 41).
What are ACEs and h
can they help us bette
understand our studen
co-workers, and
ourselves?
Everyone has experienced
trauma to some degree.
Those with a higher ACE
score at a younger age may
have more trouble later in
life.
People with higher ACE scores have a faster resting heart rate. It is easier for them to have their heart rate quickly increase, putting them into a stressful fight or flight mode more often (Sander, 2014).
52
Does our school have
positive school behav
plan? What is it and
where can educators
access that informatio
Studies have shown that
schools that have a
uniform system of
addressing students with
high levels of trauma to be
more effective (ie. Having
a similar discipline code).
Some schools use Positive
Behavior Intervention and
Supports (PBIS) to make
sure that the whole school
is using similar strategies
to help students learn to
cope and be resilient.
What can teachers do while they are waiting for professional mental health professionals to work with their students?
Sometimes there are not enough mental health professionals, such as social workers and psychologists available when students are in need. They are put on waiting lists.
53
What do we do now? · Mindfulness, breathing exercises · The Zones, elementary curriculum that uses colors to talk about emotions · Read: Bridging Two Worlds: Supporting Newcomer and Refugee Youth – life management for students
What are some resources and activities we can do in our classrooms to help students who are affected by trauma?
15-20 minutes
Quote: Educators and school leadership should see the student holistically and to recognize that their physical, emotional, and mental needs may need to be met before they can truly learn in an academic setting (Stewart & Martin, 2018).
At this time we will take questions from the audience. Does anyone from the Clarification Team have points requiring clarify? Anyone from the Rebuttal Team have points you did not agree with? Does the Elaboration Team have points that need more thorough explanation? Application Team, what points or problems may occur in application of learning?
54
Reflection Time Flipgrid.com Check your emails! Password: Andersen
The link to the flipgrid reflection video has been sent to you. The password in Andersen. If you have trouble finding the website or place to upload your video reflection, please come find me or one of the other PD leaders.
55
Appendix C: Notes for Professional Development Session Three, Best Practice Break-out Sessions To maximize on time, staff will pick their session beforehand on a google form survey. One of the administrators will be available in our regular PLC space in case people get lost.
Tuesday 2:15-3:30
Various Classrooms
-Educators will be able to learn from their peers about best practices for former refugees -Educators will plan one lesson using a new strategy they learned
Best Practices: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Families, GLAD, Collaborative Strategic Reading
Break-out session leaders: -GLAD trained ESL and classroom teachers -Teacher using culturally relevant practices -Teacher using collaborative strategic reading strategy -Family engagement team
-Break-out sessions (show videos of strategy in action) -Time to plan a lesson with a co-teacher using a best practice strategy
**give breakout session listing before PD and have teachers select their session before this PD
Objectives: Teachers will train other teachers on effective strategies for students with interrupted education. Sessions: · Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (1 group) - looking for culturally relevant resources and books, teacher leader should have resources ready and available for teacher use (books!) · Families (1 group) - learning about Language Line and ways to get families more involved at school à inviting parents to be volunteers in your classroom or on field trips, communicating with parents about concerns EARLY in the school year
56
· GLAD (4-5 groups) ESL/Classroom teachers sharing on one top GLAD strategy they use often · Collaborative Strategic Reading (1 group) -especially useful to newcomer small group, teacher explains the process and how to do it in a small group with newcomers Teachers will: 1. Watch a video recorded strategy in action from one of their peer teachers 2. Have time to start a lesson or unit planning using that strategy
57
Appendix D: Notes for Professional Development Session Four, Team Collaboration Time Team and Teacher work time: Educators will collaborate with grade level teams to plan part of a unit that uses best practices they learned at previous PD session. Educators will make a video reflection.